Re: Genitive relationships (WAS: Construct States)

I guess Rokbeigalmki is one of the less-usual conlangs that uses an
actual verb 'have' instead of a 'is for/at/to' construction.  There is,
however, a word _tii_ /taj/ which works like "hay" in Spanish and "yeish"
in Hebrew, meaning "there is/are".  There's also _nii_ (negative, "there
isn't/aren't") and _kii_ (possible, "there might be").  The difference
between the "_ii" words and hay & yeish is that you just add a tense
vowel to the word, instead of reconjugating it in a different form
(habi'a, habra') or using a totally different verb (haya, yihyeh).

tii athra = there's a site
nii maldm = there aren't humans
kii ur = there might be a bonfire

and in different tenses:

a-nii darish = there isn't a teacher right now (=present-immediate tense)
u-kii waj = there might have been a settlement (=past tense)
oi-tii pyetm = there are usually stones (=present-routine tense)

etc.

Which brings up the possibility of actually conjugating the words like
verbs, in forms like *azu-nii, *uhmzii-kii, *eze-tii, etc....which could
possibly be some kind of "alienable possession" like other people
have....hmm...'to have there be something for you'?  It could probably
work well with things like spouses, friends, pets, stock-market-based
wealth, crops....things that you "have", but you don't really *own* the
way you own a boat or rock.

Hmm....any opinions?


-Stephen (Steg)

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